Hold On
by Red Twister
Summary: First, he woke up in a strange place. Then, he couldn't find his family or his phone. And now, when he has finally found someone who could clue him in on what's happening, he gets more questions than answers. What's happening to Ron and where is Kim? Will Ron survive long enough to find out? He'll just have to hold on with all his strength and patience.
1. Chapter 1: Questions

Kim Possible® is owned by Disney

Hold On

Chapter One: Questions

* * *

_"Woah, why am I laying down? And why's it so dark,"_ Ron thought as he slowly became aware of his surroundings, _"Where am I?"_

As he gained awareness of his body, Ron slowly blinked open his eyes to see the wooden roof in his tree house and the early morning sunlight starting to creep in through the cracks in the wood.

_"I must have fallen asleep out here,"_ Ron figured, looking down at himself, _"__Awe man. Apparently, in my mission clothes too. Must have been a long mission."_

As he sat up, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked around to piece together the clues as to why he had fallen asleep in his tree house.

"Rufus, buddy, you around," Ron questioned the empty tree house. No response came. _"He must be inside,"_ Ron decided.

Ron climbed his way down the tree house's ladder and walked over to his sliding back door. Luckily it was unlocked and he made his inside.

"Mom? Dad? Anyone home," he shouted through the empty house as he walked through the first floor, starting to get more worried. "Where is everybody," he whispered to himself.

Making his way up the stairs, Ron saw that his parent's room was open. Peaking inside he saw that there was some clothes thrown in disarray which was odd for his usually organized parents. He also saw that one of their bedroom lamps was on and their bedroom TV was still on too, but muted. With no other sign of them, he made his way to his room. Looking around, everything seemed to be how he remembered. His bed was still unmade. His college backpack was still hanging off his desk chair. Everything was normal. Except Rufus was still nowhere to be found.

_"Maybe KP can help me find him,"_ Ron thought to himself. He patted his pockets, but couldn't find his phone. He looked around his room, in his backpack, under his bed... anywhere that he would typically leave it. It was nowhere to be found. As odd as that was, he just figured he'd misplaced somewhere and he could find it later. Right now he would just walk over to Kim's house since it wasn't that far away.

* * *

It didn't take long before he was standing in front of Kim's front door. Just as he was about to knock, Jim ran out the front door, past Ron, leaving it hanging open. Ron watched as Jim completely ignored him and went digging in the family car for something - obviously preoccupied. Peaking his head in the front door, Ron announced his presence, but got no reply. Shrugging it off, he went looking for the Possibles in their living room and kitchen. He found Mr. Dr .P rummaging in the kitchen on the phone. He tried waving hello, but couldn't seem to get his attention. He waited in the doorway for Mr. Dr. P to get off the phone.

"I can't find the charger, Jim is searching for it in the car right now," Ron heard Mr. Dr. P say into the phone, "I will. How's Kimmie-cub doing? Mm-hmm. How's the surgery going? Uh-huh. Still going, wow. What are the odds? Oh, gosh."

Ron's ears perked up when he heard Kim's name, _"What's going on? Is Kim in the hospital?!"_

"Okay hon, we'll will be on our way soon. Do you guys need anything else?"

Ron walked into the living rubbing his face and trying to piece together everything. From waking up in his tree house wearing his mission gear, to his whole family and Rufus disappearing, and now Kim was in the hospital? He had no idea what was going on or what was happening.

Suddenly, Jim came running into the living room shouting, "Dad! I found the phone charger! Are you ready to go back?"

"Yeah Jim, let's go," Mr. Dr. P said as they made their out the house.

"Wait for me guys! Can I catch a ride to the hospital too," Ron asked following them. He didn't get a response, but slid into the backseat of the car anyways. No one seemed to mind.

* * *

As the arrived to the hospital, Ron followed in silence until they got to the lobby of the intensive care unit. As the doors slid open, he saw Mrs. Dr. P waiting for them by the front desk. As soon as she saw them walk in, she collapsed into a hug with her husband.

"They just came in and updated us. He's out of surgery now. They did everything they could, but he's on the ventilator right now and..." Mrs. Dr. P took heavy, deep breath before she continued, "They're not sure if he'll wake up."

"Who are we talking about," Ron questioned behind everyone, "And where's Kim? Is she okay?"

Collecting herself, Mrs. Dr. P lifted her head and broke the hug with her husband, "Come with me. I'll take you to everyone else."

Ron followed as Mrs. Dr. P lead them through ICU hallways. Ron peaked into the rooms as they passed trying to figure out where Kim was and who the 'he' was that they were talking about. Finally, they got to their destination where Tim was exiting a room.

"Hey guys. The Stoppables just left to go call family and update them on everything and get Hana some breakfast I think."

"Thanks Tim. Do you and Jim want to go hang out in my office? We'll text you guys if anything happens or we need anything," Mrs. Dr. P offered.

"Sure, thank Mom," Jim said as they walked down the halls towards her office.


	2. Chapter 2: The Beginning

Kim Possible® is owned by Disney

Hold On

Chapter Two: The Beginning

* * *

While the Possible parents talked outside the room, Ron scooted pass them to walk inside. Pass the door, Ron found Kim sitting in a chair pushed up to next to the hospital bed. Her left arm was in a sling and her right hand was holding on tight to the right hand of whoever is in the bed. As Ron's eyes traveled the room from Kim he saw that in the bed was a man that looked to be the mirror image of himself in a hospital gown. The man in the bed had a splint on his left knee and His right arm had in a cast. He had a bandage wrapped around his forehead, holding gauze pads to the back of his head. There was a ventilator breathing for the man. Not to mention all the wires connected to the man and the beeping machines.

"Uh, Kim... what's going on?"

Ron got no reply. She didn't even look up at him, her eyes locked onto his mirror image in the bed. Moving further into the room, Ron tried to put his hand on Kim's shoulder as a sign of support. He stumbled forward a little when he misjudged where her shoulder was, but tried again. He watched as his hand passed right through her shoulder. He tried again and watched has his hand passed through again.

He'd been relatively calm this whole time. Not being able to find his family, unable to find his phone, being ignored by everyone, seeing his banged up mirror image in a hospital bed but now he's passing through people like a ghost?! This was too much. Ron started to panic.

"KP, seriously, what's going on? What's happening?"

Ron stumbled back into a chair against the wall and just as he was beginning to hyperventilate, the Possible parents came in.

"Hey Kimmie-cub. How're you doing," Mr. Dr. P said, with concern obviously lacing his words.

Kim took a deep breath and sighed, "Dad... I... I don't know."

"That's okay Kimmy," her mom chimed in, "We don't expect you to be... anything, with all this. What can we do to help?"

"I don't know," Kim looked down in defeat, "I think his parents might need some help taking care of Hana. This room isn't exactly a good place for an almost 3-year-old."

"Alright honey. Do you need anything though?"

"No. Nothing you can get me anyways."

Mrs. Dr. P gave a small nod and a sad smirk before squeezing Kim's shoulder in comfort. She shuffled her husband out of the room to go look for the Stoppables, leaving Kim seemingly alone in the room.

Kim got up from her seat to stand next to Ron's head. She brushed his hair a little bit with her hand. Ron got up from his chair and stood on the other side of the bed, opposite of Kim. Being this close to her, he could see that her eyes were red and she had a few scratches on her face.

Kim bent down so that her forehead was resting on Ron's forehead as she whispered in Ron's ear, "Listen Ron. I know that it's going to hurt and that it's not going to be easy, but you need to fight. I can't imagine a world without you in it. So, please don't leave me."

Kim punctuated her sentence with a teary kiss to the cheek.

"Don't worry Kim. I'm here, I'm right here," Ron placed his ghost hand on hers, "I don't want to let go."

Kim pulled back and sat back down on her chair with a handful of tissues crumpled in her fists. Ron came over to kneel at her side, holding on to the arm of the chair.

"I'll be back KP, I promise. I'm just going to go find my parents. Make sure they're okay and everything."

Ron got up and left the room, hesitating as he got to the door and looking back at Kim sitting, curled up in her chair. He took a deep breath before he continued through the doorway and went to find his parents.

* * *

To be continued...


	3. Chapter 3: What Happened

Kim Possible® is owned by Disney

Hold On

Chapter Three: What Happened

* * *

The first place Ron thought to look was the hospital cafeteria. Once he got there, he found it to be busy with the late breakfast eaters and the early lunch eaters. Scanning the tables, he found his family sitting with the Possible parents at a table in the back. Making his way over, he noticed one doctor had a newspaper on his table. Peeking over, Ron saw the date: December 21.

_"Huh, the last date I remember was December 18,"_ Ron thought, _"What happened to those 3 days worth of memory?"_

Ron made it over to the table and sat in an empty chair next to the table. So far his parents looked okay. A little bit more stressed than usual, a little bit more sullen than usual, but what was to expect when their only son was attached to a bunch of wires and tubes in a hospital bed.

"How's Kim holding up," asked Mr. Stoppable.

"Oh, she's fine. She's trying to be her strong, stubborn self," Mrs. Dr. P answered, "She really won't be okay though until your son is awake and back with her."

"We can never tell you how proud and thankful we are of your son for this and everything he's done for Kim," Mr. Dr. P said breaking the silence, "If there's anything we can do to help you guys out, just let us know."

"Thank you," Mrs. Stoppable smiled as she cut more pancakes for Hana, "We appreciate that."

"We just might hold you to it, especially with this little one" Mr. Stoppable pointed his thumb toward his daughter.

"Hey, we have two capable baby sitters if you need it," Mrs. Dr. P smiled.

There was a lull in the conversation minus Hana's excited noises about food.

"So, do you guys actually know what happened in that lair," Mr. Stoppable broke the silence, "All we know is that there was an explosion. We didn't really much from the doctors. We didn't know if Kim had told you anything."

Ron's ears suddenly perked up. Finally, he might have the chance to find out what happened and how he got stuck with his body in a hospital bed and his spirit wandering around.

"All we got from Kim was that they were fighting Duff Killigan at some laboratory. One of his golf balls went askew and hit a reactor cooling system. We're not sure what happened after that, we just know that she was blaming herself for Ron's injuries," Mrs. Dr. P said, "She didn't really want to talk much more about it after that."

Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable both nodded their understanding.

"Hmmm... Whatever happened, it would've had to have happened relatively quickly. If the reactor cooling system was damaged by an exploding golf ball then it could easily fail and lead to a thermal runaway," Mr. Dr. P paused in his thinking to look up at the blank stares at the other table occupants, "Um... it's not a stretch of the mind to assume that the exploding golf ball caused a major chemical explosion with a large radius of impact."

Ron got up and backed away from the table, stunned and starting to get a headache (which he didn't know was possible in spirit form). It was all coming back to him... Kim and him... they were home from college on winter break. They had been at the Middleton Mall Christmas shopping for Kim's family when Wade had called. They had flown somewhere... Ron wasn't sure, he hadn't paid that much attention when they were being briefed.

They had flown down to the laboratory from the plane their jet-packs. Duff Killigan was there trying to steal some chemical to enhance his golf balls. His two henchmen started to fight against Kim while Ron went after Killigan and defended the chemical he was trying to steal. At some point in the fight, it was all a blur to Ron, Kim and Killigan ended up battling while Ron took down the henchmen. Suddenly, there was a golf ball flying over the heads of everyone and exploding by some tanks. Killigan and his crew left pretty quickly after that. Kim had run over, yelled about how they didn't have much time and something about explosion, then pulled Ron as they ran away.

The next thing Ron knew he was hearing the sounds of the tanks exploding behind him and the heat tickling the back of his neck. Without even thinking he stopped running, turned around to face the impact, and everything turned a shade of blue. His mystical monkey powers (M.M.P.) had taken over. He could hear Kim's screams for his safety behind him. That's all he remembered. The next thing he knew was that he was waking up in his treehouse.

Ron ran, he ran all the way back to his safe place: Kim.

* * *

To be continued...


	4. Chapter 4: Comfort

Kim Possible® is owned by Disney

Hold On

Chapter Four: Comfort

* * *

When Ron made it back to his hospital room, he found Kim curled up in a ball on the floor outside his room, obviously stressed and crying. Confused as to why she was there and not in the room like she was when he left her, Ron went through the door to his room where he saw that a herd of doctors were working on and around him.

"Clear," one of them shouted before zapping his chest with a powerful shock of electricity. Ron watched the heart monitor beep real high when his body was hit with the paddles and then go back to flat-lining.

"Charge to two hundred," the doctor with the paddles shouted behind him towards the guy controlling the paddles' strength. His body was zapped again, but this time his heart monitor started to beep with his heart beats afterwards.

Ron stumbled back out into the hall, through the glass wall to where Kim was. He sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around his knees.

"I'm here KP and I'm fine. They got my heart working again," Ron mumbled, trying to comfort her as best he could in his ghost form.

Suddenly, Ron's parents and the Possibles came jogging up to Kim. As Ron's parents ran past to go inside the room, Kim's mom almost instantly fell into a hug next to her daughter on the opposite side of where Ron was.

"I don't know what happened. One second everything was fine and then all the monitors started going off and that team ran in with the cart. I don't know what I did."

"Oh Kim, you didn't do anything. Sometimes the body just succumbs to its injuries," Mrs. Dr. P said, but continued when she saw how distraught her daughter was, "but Ron is a fighter and he'll pull through this."

"It looks like they've got his heart beating back to normal again and they're just talking to his parents and cleaning up their gear in there now," Mr. Dr. P said looking over both girls and into the room through the glass wall.

"Mom. Dad. What do I do," Kim questioned through her tears.

"What do you mean honey," Mrs. Dr. P rubbed Kim's back.

"He's in there because of me."

"Oh Kimmie..."

"No mom," Kim interrupted, "I drag him all over the world on these missions all the time that can dangerous at any point. And I've been doing that since we were thirteen. For almost six years now, I've been doing this. And all he's done, all he's ever wanted to do, was have my back. And now... now look where that's gotten him. He followed me and I led him to..."

Kim trembled. She couldn't bring herself to say that she led him to his death.

"Kim, you and I both know that you never forced Ron to do anything. He is and has always been able to make his own decisions," Kim's mom said sternly, "You've both always looked after each. Since you were in preschool, you've helped and guided each other."

"She's right Kim," Ron sighed, knowing nobody could hear him, "I much rather be in the sitch that I am in now than anything happen to you."

Ron's dad came out from the room beside the Possible women.

"The doctors said that they've got him back this time and they think without any lasting effects. They complimented his fighting spirit," Ron's dad sighed, rubbing his eyes. Mr. Dr. P put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Ron's dad took a deep breath and continued, "If anything like that happens again they're not sure they'll be able to bring him back though. It would be too much stress on his heart."

Kim stood up, "What can I do Mr. Stoppable?"

"Right now, all we can do is provide encouragement to Ron and help each other."

* * *

That evening, Kim was alone in Ron's hospital room with Ron's ghost-like self. His parents had taken Hana home for dinner and bed while her dad had taken the twins home and her mom was in surgery on a different floor of the hospital. Kim had pulled a chair up to Ron's bedside. Out of complete exhaustion, Kim had fallen asleep holding onto Ron's right hand and with her hand on Ron's bedside. Ron was sitting in a chair against the wall behind Kim's chair.

"I'm not giving up yet KP, so don't give up on me. I'm **not** going to go down that easily. I will fight for you," Ron said looking over Kim's sleeping form, "I always have and I always will. I don't know how to fix this and I don't even know where to start, but I'm going to come back to you. I promise."

Ron got up from his chair as a man on a mission. He ran as fast as he could out of his hospital room, out of the I.C.U., and out of the hospital. He had an idea and he didn't have any time to waste. He looked around outside and gathered his surroundings. He saw a car going the direction he needed and caught up to it while it stopped at a light. He hitched an unknown ride in the backseat. A little while later he hitched a ride with another car making a turn at another stop light. Ron kept this process up until he got to his destination.

* * *

To be continued...


	5. Chapter 5: Fight

Kim Possible® is owned by Disney

Hold On

Chapter Five: Fight

* * *

Ron made his way up the driveway of his friend's house. Peaking his head through the door and seeing nobody, he phased through and walked through the living room and down the hallway towards his buddy's bedroom. He could see the light on and hear the shower running in the hall bathroom as he passed by it. He could hear the TV on in, what he assumed was, Wade's parents' bedroom down the hall. Wade's bedroom door was shut, so out of habit he tried to knock on the door until his hand phased through the door. Without any other polite choice, Ron went through the closed door and into Wade's bedroom. Looking around, he walked over to Wade's desk.

"Okay, now what can I get a message on," Ron thought out loud.

Taking the most obvious choice, he went for the main computer. However, his fingers just passed through the keyboard and mouse.

"Okay, think Stoppable, what now...," Ron looked around the room. He can't type on the computer. He couldn't grab a phone to send a call or text or even a page. He can't hold a pencil to write a note. His options and ideas were thinning.

Then, it hit him. Sensei had once written a message to him when he was a spirit: the infamous mystery meat on the cafeteria wall incident during his senior year. The only problem was that he didn't think Wade had any mystery meat.

_"I wonder if it works with any meat,"_ Ron thought, _"Or any food!"_

Ron ran through the walls and doors towards the kitchen. He vaguely noticed that the shower noise was gone this time as he ran past. He searched the fridge for something good to write a message with. Ham, no. Hot dogs, maybe. Cheese, Rufus would love that. Then, he saw the ketchup in the fridge door. Perfect!

It took all of Ron's concentration and energy to be able to grab and move the ketchup. He didn't have the strength to take it back to Wade's room or to lift it onto the walls, so he settled for the kitchen counter. He wrote his message and then immediately dropped the ketchup bottle to the side.

As Ron collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, he heard Wade in hall shouting to his parents, "I'm going to grab a drink and head off to bed. I'll come say good night."

This was it. This was his chance to get a message to Kim and his family. Wade walked over to the cupboard to get his cup and stopped in his tracks as he saw the ketchup message staring back up at him. Without a word or a sound, Wade turned around and ran to his room. In seconds he was back with his Kimmunicator (which was Kim's old one before she got the updated watch Kimmunicator).

"Kim, you there," Wade was trying to remain calm while on the verge of hysterics.

"Yeah, Wade, what's up? I'm not taking any missions right now," Kim picked up right away.

"This isn't a mission," Wade got serious as he got control of his emotions, "I was getting a drink before I went to bed and I found this on my counter."

Wade turned the camera around so Kim could see Ron's message in ketchup.

Not Gone

Here

Spirit

Fighting 2 Get Back

"Wade, what is this," Wade could hear the start of optimism leak into Kim's voice for the first since Ron had been put in the hospital.

"I think it's a message from Ron, but that's just peer speculation. Nothing is confirmed yet. I haven't analyzed it or anything yet. I saw it and ran to alert you."

"Wade, that's Ron. He's trying to talk to us. He told me about how Sensei did something similar with him. Do you remember the mystery meat on the walls last year? It was some, spirit thing that he could do. Ron's never done it before, I don't even think he's ever tried it, but I know this is him now."

* * *

To be continued...


End file.
